The Patriots have held a private workout with Northwestern State’s Deon Simon. (NFL.com)

The New England Patriots are digging deep for a two-gap prospect.

One stop in that search heading into the 2015 NFL draft has led the Patriots to Northwestern State’s Deon Simon, whom the team worked out privately last week, according to WEEI.com’s Chris Price.

The 6-foot-4, 330-pound Simon is seen as a 3-4 nose tackle and a possible seventh-round pick in early May. And in his NFL.com draft diary, the Southland Conference product shared that he already had a formal interview with the Patriots at the NFL Scouting Combine in February.

Simon benched 35 reps of 225 pounds while in Indianapolis, placing in the top tier of all participants. He also clocked a 5.12 40-yard dash there on the Lucas Oil Stadium turf.

The Demons defensive tackle missed five games during his senior season due to a knee injury, finishing with 26 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, and one sack over seven games in 2014.